


you were my first boy wonder

by PrinceDrew



Category: Heartstopper (Webcomic), Osemanverse, Solitaire - Alice Oseman
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Amazing Older Sister Tori Spring, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, I will make that into a tag or die trying, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Protective Siblings, Reconciliation, Some Humor, implied/referenced eating disorder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:35:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23880181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrinceDrew/pseuds/PrinceDrew
Summary: “Have you contacted the Young Guardian Force?” Nick asked, because Charlie did that sometimes. Returned to teamwork when solo was too much. “He might have visited Tara and Darcy -”“We asked,” Michael said. “And - and they’re searching, but they say they haven’t seen him. And we even checked the Crow’s Nest surveillance footage. There’s been no sign of him.”Nick sucked in a breath. Not with the team. Not at the Roost. Not near the Crow’s Nest. This was -Bad. Bad bad bad.They had met first when they were Magpie and Sunboy, sidekicks and trying to figure out this whole heroics business.They were still together years later. Not just as Nightingale and Golden Sun, but as Nick and Charlie. Even when everything was wrong.
Relationships: Michael Holden/Victoria "Tori" Spring, Nicholas "Nick" Nelson/Charles "Charlie" Spring
Comments: 3
Kudos: 31





	you were my first boy wonder

**Author's Note:**

> So. I got into the Batman family, and this was the result. This AU is based off the DCU, but I kept it to the familiar archetypes. It's... sort of obvious who is roughly who, especially when you get to the backstories. 
> 
> Also a point of clarity re: the tags. I am not a skilled or knowledgeable enough writer to write Charlie's eating disorder in full detail, but not acknowledging it at all felt wrong. It's briefly alluded to, mostly euphemistically, though there is scene where Charlie refuses to eat on a date with Nick. It's only a small section, but if you want to skip it, go from Nick saying 'Fun fact' to him saying 'if you want'. If you want anything else tagging, please let me know.
> 
> Title is taken from the alt text of this A Softer World comic.

All things considered, it was a quiet night.

Older heroes would shake their heads that there was no such thing as quiet. That quiet was worse than noisy, because at least with noisy you knew where the trouble was, and sometimes - when you were _good_ \- you could even tell who was behind the trouble.

Nick - twenty-four but with seven years of heroics under his belt - didn’t quite agree with that. Sometimes, quiet was just quiet, and quiet was nice.

That was the thing about his city, Belenusby - you didn’t have to patrol every night. Even when Sunman was off-world, like he was then. It wasn’t like that, it wasn't like Pianet, not like Nightingale and Blackbird’s territory, where half the battles fought weren’t with folks in costumes. Not to say that he didn’t deal with the petty crimes - he did. Honest, it wasn’t all just aliens and mad billionaires and - and whatever else the city decided to throw at him that night. It just wasn’t as common, that’s all. People just sort of got on with their lives, and took a lot of selfies with him when they saw him.

He had gone out anyway, just to fly. Flying was nice - flying was _his thing._ Still in his costume, in the brilliant scarlet and gold that his world, his city, his people had come to rely on. Feeling the cool wind brush by him, welcome him, embrace him as it ran through his hair and over him. It was a luxury, a beauty. Something he was thankful for each day.

Still. It wasn’t as though he could fly forever.

So he landed, on top of the building he always landed on. The one where the view stretched out forever, over his city and beyond. It wasn’t quite night just yet. Dusking, twilight, the mellow-orange sun making way for indigo-dark night. No stars - there were never any stars in his city.

_I should take Charlie -_

He shook his head. It would have been easy to think the thought through and let it become something real, something broken, hurtful, burning. To carry him off into the world of the past, and the world of what-we-could-be-now, to consume him all over. Of soft smiles and rough, calloused hands, gripping each other tight like lifeline.

But it wouldn’t do to think of that. To think of him.

After all. He and Nightingale weren’t like that. Not now.

Not after that fight -

* * *

Nicholas ‘Nick’ Nelson - alias Golden Sun, though he was Sunboy back then - had first met Charles ‘Charlie’ Spring - alias Nightingale - when they were both sidekicks, sixteen and seventeen.

Both were new to the scene, but Nick more so. Magpie - because this was before Charlie struck out on his own and became Nightingale - had already been in the field for a year, and had bruises blooming along his jawline and scars on his torso to prove it. Nick had maybe two months of experience under his belt, was still new to the planet, to Earth, was still wide-eyed about helping people.

Their mentors had wanted to introduce them to each other. Well. Nick’s mentor - Nathan Ajayi, alias Sunman - had wanted to introduce the two boys, From what Nick understood Crowman wasn’t so keen on ‘metas’ in his territory.

But there they were. In Crowman’s territory, meeting his young apprentice.

What is there most in Nick’s memory - what he can still see when he closes his eyes - is the colours of Magpie’s costume. How they illuminated the darkness of the Crow’s Nest (which was a cave, really, god, was Crowman really that committed to gloom?), a contrast to the black and grey of his mentor, because yes, his costume was black, but there was so much more -

Shimmering jewel blue, iridescent green, the flash of stark white as the underside of a cape. Midnight-dark hair that was slightly curling against brown skin, eyes hidden beneath the white lenses of a domino mask.

It made Nick, in spandex coloured white and gold, feel a little inferior.

Still though. This was an ally! A potential partner! Someone as young as him - okay, biologically Magpie was a year younger, Nathan had told him that already - also fighting crime!

“Hi!” Nick had chirped, taking Magpie’s hand for him and shaking it - okay, too hard, super strength kept kicking in at all the wrong times. “I’m Sunman’s sidekick! Sunboy - that’s S-U-N sun, not S-O-N, that would be a weird name, and he's not my dad, we're not related at all, really, outside of the whole same alien species thing - anyway, you can call me -”

_“Ahem.”_

Crowman stood, covered in cowl and cape, glaring down at Nick.

“We are calling you Sunboy,” Crowman groused, his voice deep and - and not quite human. “As you are calling us Crowman and Magpie.”

Nick cringed into himself, letting go of Magpie’s hand as his shoulders shot up to his ears. “Sorry, sir.”

The adult hero eyed Nick for a moment longer, before turning away with a flick of his cape and stomping towards the back of the cave, where a large computer and - okay, wow, was that a giant T-Rex? Not something Nick thought Crowman would own. Nathan just smiled, and shrugged at Nick, as if to say _‘What can you do with him?_ , before following Crowman to the computer, leaving the two kids alone, just stood there.

Magpie spoke first.

“S-Sorry about that,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Crowman’s, uh, strict when it comes to identity. He’s a softie once you get to know him, honest, but right now...”

And he smiled at - _oh._ Oh, that was -

_Breath-taking._

Heat flushed Nick’s cheeks as he smiled back.

“No, that’s fine! I get it!” he said, waving his hands about. “Like, Superhero Code of Conduct and all that? I think? Sunman keeps explaining it to me, or at least he tries to…”

As he trailed off, he realised he wasn’t sure, exactly, what to do.

“Sorry,” he blurted. “I’d say we’d spar but you’re, like, human and squishy and my strength control isn’t that great yet and I _really_ don’t want to be the one who, like, breaks Crowman’s sidekick’s back or arm or -”

“No no! We can spar!” Magpie interrupted, and he was smiling again. Always smiling, but this one was different. Cocky. “I’m agile. I don’t think you’d even land a hit on me. Might even teach you how to defeat things without punching them. C’mon, I’ll show you to the mats.”

He turned, walking off and Nick followed behind, blinking. He hadn’t expected Magpie to be - like this. Not from all the things he had heard about this city, heard about Magpie, heard about Crowman.

He expected someone harder. Someone angry.

Not a lithe sixteen year old boy who was busy pulling out thai pads and shifting mats around, pushing the fluff of his hair away from his face.

“We’ll start with just a two minute match,” Magpie declared, straightening up. “No winner, no loser. I won’t use my staff. It’s just us getting to know how the other fights.”

Fair enough. Nick nodded, and stepped onto the mat. The back of his neck was prickling, as if someone was watching. It was probably Crowman, ready to step in in case Nick slipped up somehow.

Magpie was stretching. The sleeves of his uniform were short, leaving most of his arms bare aside from the black-and-white gauntlet gloves. Nick desperately averted his gaze.

“You ready?” Magpie asked, shifting his stance into one more fighter-friendly.

“Can I just ask you something? Before we begin?” Nick asked. Magpie paused, but nodded, so he took a breath. “Why Magpie? I mean, yeah, it fits with Crowman’s theme, but Magpie isn’t, like. It doesn’t live up to the whole fear and intimidation angle he’s going for, so… Why?”

Something shifted. For a moment, Magpie seemed shrunken, withdrawn. But then, like a flash, it was gone, and he was grinning at Nick like there was nothing else he wanted to do.

“Why not Magpie?” he had replied, before launching into the air.

* * *

Sometimes, all a hero could do was think.

Nick had removed his cape, spread it across himself like a blanket as he sat on top of the building he had settled upon. The sun had truly set now, but his city was still alive. He counted, all the little lights in the office buildings, every person yet to go home or finish work. Every person that counted on Golden Sun to ensure they could sleep at night. He sighed, and closed his eyes.

Charlie had been right. Nick hadn’t been able to land a single hit on him in the two minutes they fought, because every time he got close, the other boy would dodge or flip away, Nick’s own body as a springboard, launching himself into the beauty of human flight. The fluttering billow of his cape, like the wings of a bird.

They had been so young when they first met. Mere sidekicks. Now they were heroes all on their own.

His communicator buzzed. Without opening his eyes, he pulled it out and accepted the call.

“Golden Sun speaking.”

_“Nick.”_

His eyes snapped open. There, on the screen in front of him, was Blackbird - Tori Spring - with no mask, her cowl pulled off resting on her shoulders, trembling at him as she stared at him. She was alone, not in the Crow’s Nest but in the flat she and Charlie shared sometimes, when Charlie didn’t want to stay with Nick. The Roost.

“Tori?” He swallowed. Normally the Birds had this thing about real names in the field, over comms, but she had used his. “Tori, Blackbird, what’s wrong?  
.  
She shook her head, once, twice, then opened her mouth. Tried for a moment, snapped it shut. Tori did that sometimes, lapsed into non-verbal. But she hadn’t done it in over a year. Not since she got better about the Solitaire thing, not since Nick last saw her -

“You can sign,” he urged her. “I’ll understand, I promise.”

She shook her head again, but raised shaking hands.

‘Nightingale,’ she signed, and Nick’s heart vanished. ‘Charlie. Gone.’

* * *

At first, they didn’t see each other regularly. Just when their mentors would meet up, which wasn’t that often, and even then they wouldn’t speak that much. There was a routine though. A routine that Nick very much enjoyed.

Both would stand just slightly behind their mentors as they talked. Then, Nick would look up, and wait for Magpie to look at him. When Magpie did, Nick would smile brightly at his fellow sidekick, and wave, and Magpie would flush red and smile back, waving. Only he waved by wiggling his fingers.

This time was different. Apparently, there was some very important, big Big Battle that they didn’t want their sidekicks getting mixed up, so they had decided to otherwise occupy them. So now, instead of helping out with evacuation or crowd control or literally anything, Sunboy and Magpie were baby-sitting Magpie’s baby brother down in the Crow’s Nest. Apparently, Crowman didn’t trust the idea of Sunboy in his actual house.

“Do I hafta wear this mask?” the - seven? eight? - year old boy complained, pulling at it. “It _itches._ "

They were in the training area, Nick sat on the floor, Magpie and his brother on the mats.

“We’ve been over this Ol - er, Fledgling,” Magpie said, picking up his brother and pulling him to a hug. “If you don’t wear the mask, then Sunboy knows who you are, and that means he knows who I am, and that means he can find out who Crowman is with a very simple google search.”

Nick blinked, taking in Magpie’s words. “I thought Crowman’s identity would be harder to crack than that,” he said. 

Magpie shrugged, or at least he shrugged as best as he could. “It’s not that. It’s just he’s got a very public persona, so find out who we are, you find him, like, ridiculously easy. We’re not like Sunman and you, we’re not ordinary like a teacher or a regular high school student. Though,” he added, flipping his brother upside down as the kid squealed, “it’d be a lot better if we were.”

“Wait.” Nick blinked, and stared at Magpie. “You already know who we are?”

“Um, yeah?” Magpie let Fledgling go, watching as the kid tumbled onto the training mat. “I mean, it’s - Sunman doesn’t even wear a mask, and Crowman is insanely paranoid. He probably knew who he was within a week of his first appearance. Maybe even a day.”

“Oh.” The more Nick thought about it, the more it made sense. There were a lot of little things Nathan did to change into Sunman, but sometimes it did seem all he did was get rid of his glasses. “Seems a bit unfair though.”

Magpie smiled at that, or maybe he was smiling because he had pounded into Fledgling. “Yeah, well. That’s Crowman for you. Unfair is practically his middle name.”

Nick nodded, and watched as Magpie and Fledgling wrestled together. It was - weird? But nice? There wasn’t really much reference for Nick about how sibling relationships on Earth were meant to work. Ms. Nelson’s own son didn’t bother with Nick that much. A lot of the films and TV shows he watched - aside from the ones Ms. Nelson showed him - mostly featured siblings trying to kill each other, or blaming each other for something, but he doubted that was really how it worked.

 _For Magpie and Fledgling at least_ , he thought, smiling. The elder of the two was obviously taking it easier on his brother, but he still pinned him down on the mat, tickling his brother as he let out giddy giggly shrieks.

“Magpie!” Fledgling wailed as his brother ran his fingers up the boy’s side. “Stop it! It’s not fair! You’ve got ninja training!”

“Vigilante training,” Magpie corrected, but he did relent, withdrawing and sitting up. “And it’s not that unfair. If Sunboy was tickling you, it’d be really unfair. You see,” and here Magpie dropped his voice to a whisper, “Sunboy has _superpowers_.”

Fledgling gasped, and whipped his head around to gape at Nick. “Really?!”

Nick grinned at him. “Yep,” he said. “I have loads of powers. I can do almost anything I want.”

“Sunboy has all the powers Sunman has,” Magpie explained to his brother. “He can do everything Sunman can.” He looked up at Nick. “Sunman is his favourite hero. Drives Crowman insane because he insists on getting all the stuff the shops sell.”

Actually, now that he looked, the hoodie Fledgling was wearing was a Sunman hoodie. The ‘S’ inside a blazing sun wasn’t actually that subtle. He wondered if they got royalties from the sales.

The young boy squealed in delight, and threw himself at Nick. Super-reflexes were great for a reason, he thought as he caught Fledgling with a gentle _oof_.

“Does this mean you can fly?!” Fledgling asked. He was bright, so bright, his eyes like stars and his smile was missing two teeth. “Can I fly with you? _Please_? I always want to fly but back then they said I was too little for the aerial stunts and now Magpie doesn’t have time to help me and he says there’s not a lot he can do with only himself so _please_ can I fly with you?”

“Um.” Nick looked at Magpie, pleading. “If your brother says it’s alright.”

Magpie shrugged, but he looked happy. “So long as you don’t take him up too high. Also, uh, if you could avoid the bats, that would also be nice. Crowman cares more for them than he lets on, and I really don’t want my brother to be bitten by one.”

“I won’t!” Fledgling protested, and Nick laughed.

“Alright, alright,” he said, standing up. “Hold on tight.”

Fledgling squealed, and clung to the teen like a koala would. 

“Ready?”

“Ready!”

He pushed off, up, up off the ground, not fast, not slow, and rose steadily towards the roof of the cave. Fledgling gasped again, grinning down at his brother, crying about how high he was and he was flying! He was up so high! Higher than the bats, Magpie, he was higher than the house!

Nick grinned, and began to move, small laps around the width of the cave.

Flight was hard to explain. Before Nick had tried swimming, he had thought of it like that, but it wasn’t an accurate comparison. Water fought against you; air welcomed you.

“Hey, Fledgling,” he said, his voice low. “Want to try something very, very dangerous and very, very fun?”

“YES!”

Nick laughed, flew as up high as he dared. He counted - one, two, three - and tossed Fledging -

\- watched as he arched beautifully across the cave ceiling -

\- and dashed to catch him, breathless.

“Again!” Fledgling laughed, clinging onto Nick. “Again, again!”

He looked down, expecting to see Magpie grinning and waving. Except - what he could see - what he was looking at - was Magpie's face, colourless.

Or maybe he just imagined it.

They played like that an hour more, sometimes bringing Fledgling low enough so he could taunt his brother about finally being taller. Eventually though, the kid in Nick’s arms yawned, and despite his instance of _I’m not sleepy_ , he was dozing away, drooling and snoring softly. He landed, and handed him off to Magpie, who had already pulled out a camping cot and a Sunman-themed blanket.

“Does Crowman have everything down here?” Nick wondered aloud, and watched as Magpie shrugged.

“Most things,” he explained as he tucked the blanket around Fledgling. He rose, but didn’t turn to face Nick. “Um. When. When you. Earlier, I - for fucks sake.”

Swearing didn’t sound quite right with his voice. It was too soft.

“Could you maybe.” Magpie grimaced, took a deep breath in. “I know. I know that. He enjoyed it, but - watching was - a little hard. So. So maybe, in the future - you could - be a bit more gentle?”

His words were soft, but he was gripping onto himself so tight, and his gaze didn’t lift from his brother’s face.

“Of course,” Nick said. And then, because he was burning. “Sorry.”

Magpie shook his head. “‘Salright. You didn’t know. I just don’t want him to fall where I can’t catch him.”

There was more. It was there in the way he was tracing patterns onto his brother’s skin, like that was proof he was alive. In how close he was standing to his brother’s sleeping body. In how he was breathing alongside his brother, breaths carefully in sync.

Nick sat down, and gently tugged at Magpie’s wrist until he followed suit. They were across from each other, Nick crossed-legged and Magpie pulling his knees up to his chest.

It occurred to Nick just then, how empty and terribly lonely the cave seemed.

“What Fledgling said,” Nick began quietly. “About ‘back then’. What did he mean?”

Magpie kept looking at his brother.

“We grew up in a circus,” he explained, carefully, as though he was lifting something delicate out of a box. His voice sounded odd. Not quite right. “All of us were performers. Acrobatics and trapeze work. It was in the middle of a show when - “

His voice caught, and Nick understood. Still, he looked away, down at his hands.

He was aware that most other heroes had this. The sharp divide between Life Before and Life Now. Nick didn’t. He had been alive for less than a year. All he had ever been was this, and this was all he was. He was more Sunboy, more Nik-al than Nicholas Nelson, even if Mrs. Nelson was very nice and tried very hard to make him feel like a normal boy.

“I’m sure,” Nick said quietly, and he chanced a look at Magpie. “That they’re proud of you.”

Magpie was looking back, and he smiled again. Not his usual, nervous grin. A strong, small one. A smile meant only for Nick.

“Thank you.”

* * *

If Nick flew at a leisurely pace, The Roost was an hour away from his city. That usually included time spent picking up something to share with Charlie.

Nick was not flying at a leisurely pace. Nick was racing, because Charlie was gone.

Heroes didn’t just disappear. They couldn’t afford to. Bad things happened when heroes weren’t there. Fuck, bad things happened to heroes full stop. And if something bad had happened to Charlie -

He reached the Roost in ten minutes. Tori had been kind enough to leave the window open.

As he entered, Tori turned away from the huge amount of computer screens to look at him. She was in the computer chair, looking very small. Beside her was Speedster - the former Kid Quick - his hands on her shoulders. Knowing him, he probably arrived the second Tori had called.

“Micheal,” Nick greeted.

“Nicholas Nik-al,” he returned, nodding. “You came as quick as you could.”

“It’s _Charlie_ ,” he said. “I always arrive quickly for Charlie.”

Michael looked away from him. It was weird seeing him in normal clothing and not the red with orange and black of his costume. Nick just shook his head, and stepped further into the flat, avoiding the stacks and crumbled balls of paper, of leads and past cases that didn’t work out.

Tori and Michael didn’t wear capes. Nick got why, really - Blackbird fell into the acrobatic hero category, and Michael could break his neck if he wore one - but sometimes they were useful. Mostly as blankets, he thought, removing his and tucking it around Tori. So many rescued children had felt comforted when they had a cape to use as a blanket.

“You alright?” he asked quietly.

She pulled his cape tight around her. Shook her head. Ever since her fight and escape from Solitaire, Tori had always looked a little lost, a little like she wasn’t quite sure, but it was always more pronounced when she didn’t know where Charlie or Olly were.

Michael sighed, then rushed into the kitchen. When he reappeared, there were two mugs of hot chocolate and one glass of diet lemonade. Super speed always had its advantages. He handed the glass to Tori, and kissed her forehead as he did, the way Nick was used to seeing them do after they had completed a mission together.

He ignored the ache inside of him, and took his own mug from Michael.

“What’s been established so far?” he asked, looking at Tori but knowing Michael would answer.

The story, at least how Michael had told it, was this:

Nightingale suffered injury two nights ago on patrol. It wasn’t anything major, but it was enough for Tori to use her big sister privileges and order him to stay home for three days (Nick couldn’t help but cringe at that). He was alright the first day, if grumbling about losing out on training and patrol but nothing big. When Tori came back last night, however, something had changed. He wasn’t talking much, and he wasn’t eating, though he also wasn’t organising or collecting. When she woke up this afternoon, he was gone.

At first, she hadn’t worried. Attributed it to being stir-crazy in the way only vigilantes could get. It was only when she had tried to phone him - ‘five times,’ she added - and he didn’t pick up did she realise that something was wrong. A search around the Roost and panicked visits into their city confirmed it. She found his phone underneath his pillow, the battery dead, the same with his comms. The Nightingale costume was gone. There was nothing else.

No trackers on Charlie. No note in his handwriting. No anything.

‘He wasn’t slipping again,’ Tori signed, looking much, much older than she was. ‘We know that. He was fine. He should be fine.’

Heroes had a very loose definition of ‘fine’.

“We’ve sent a message to Crowman already,” Michael said. His arm was around Tori but he kept bouncing his leg. “But he’s off-world with Sunman. Who knows when he’ll be able to get back.”

Crowman probably wasn’t the best idea for this situation either.

“Have you contacted the Young Guardian Force?” Nick asked, because Charlie did that sometimes. Returned to teamwork when solo was too much. “He might have visited Tara and Darcy -”

“We asked,” Michael said. “And - and they’re searching, but they say they haven’t seen him. And we even checked the Crow’s Nest surveillance footage. There’s been no sign of him.”

Nick sucked in a breath. Not with the team. Not at the Roost. Not near the Crow’s Nest. This was -

Bad. Bad bad bad.

‘It can’t have been a break in,’ Tori said. ‘I was here. I would have heard it. I would have. I would have stopped it. He would have stopped it.’

Nick looked out of the window he came in. They hadn’t shut it, and the coldness was invading. It would only be getting darker, and Charlie would only get farther and farther away.

“Fuck,” he said softly. “Fuck.”

* * *

_‘do you wanna team up tonight? - mgp’_

Nick blinked down at his phone, and frowned at it.

 _‘magpie?? how did you get my number???’_ he sent back, then placed his phone face down on the table. It buzzed almost immediately, and he grabbed it, wincing slightly at the curious look Ms. Nelson gave him.

_‘uh cause crowman is my mentor and hacking was like the thirteenth thing he taught me??? :p’_  
_‘...you are sunboy right??’_  
_‘please tell me you are’_

Okay, so maybe Nick smiled at that. Even laughed a bit.

_‘It is!! Sunboy I mean’_

_‘oh thank fuck ajshsjdsh i was panicking for a moment’_  
_‘i would have cried if this turned out to be kid quick’_

“Nick, sweetheart, I’ve told you, no phones while we’re eating,” Ms Nelson said, putting her fork down as she finished her own food.

“Sorry,” Nick mumbled, laying his phone back down, his Sunman-themed phone case staring back up at him. He picked his fork back up, and started to eat the rest of his lasagne, picking at it carefully as his adoptive mum watched him.

“Who was it anyway?” she asked. “One of your rugby friends?”

“Um, no,” Nick said. His cheeks were hot and he couldn’t quite look her in the eyes. “It’s, uh. It’s Magpie.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Magpie? Crowman’s boy? That Magpie?”

His stomach felt tight and not-good. The food in his mouth felt like a little too much, so he swallowed, carefully, and pushed his plate away.

“And why is he texting you?” Mrs Nelson asked as she picked his plate up. “Crowman isn’t too keen on folks with powers in his city. I thought Magpie would be much of the same.”

“No, Magpie - Magpie’s really nice. I really like Magpie. I think he likes me. His little brother is cute.” He picked at a loose thread on his jeans. Coughed a little, and added, quietly, “He wants me to team up with him. Tonight.”

Now that his mum was at the sink, humming as she washed the plates, he checked his phone again. Magpie had sent more texts.

_‘oh yeah teaming up!!’_  
_‘i’m doing a raid on a warehouse tonight and crowman’s out of town so I thought maybe you’d want to join me??’_  
_‘It’s only a few drug dealers and distributors, nothing big, but it could be fun?? If you don’t want to it’s fine!!’_  
_‘also dw about fledgling he’s with a trusted + approved babysitter’_

Did he want to?

Magpie had said drug dealers like it was the most ordinary thing in the world. Nick hadn't fought drug dealers. He was used to more… weird things. Aliens and robots, interdimensional beings and other versions of himself that were evil for some reason. Even a supermarket robbery was more in his realm than tackling drug dealers. It was easy to forget how different their cities of Belenusby and Pianet actually were. Plus, a superpowered teenager in this situation seemed to be verging on overkill.

But - and this was the important thing - he would be spending time with Magpie. Time that Magpie wanted to spend with _him_.

_‘yeah of course!! Send me the time and location!!’_

“Nicky? Are you going out tonight?” his mum asked as she dried off the plates. “Or are you going to join me for a Four Weddings and a Funeral rewatch?”

“Out!” he replied, grinning as his phone buzzed with a reply. “I’m going to see Magpie!”

In almost no time at all - which was really the amount of time it took to send Nathan a message explaining where he was going to be and eat the energy bar Mrs. Nelson insisted Nick have - he pulled on his costume and flew off towards Magpie’s location, where the other sidekick would be waiting.

The location of the mission - and where Magpie had told Nick to meet him - was a dock, littered with disused warehouses and abandoned shipping containers. Magpie was hunched on a factory rooftop, perched on the edge, his cape fluttering slightly in the breeze. As Nick landed next to him, he didn’t jump or startle - just turned slowly to face him.

“Hi,” he said, a nervy, giddy-grin on his face.

“Hi,” Nick returned, feeling his cheeks and the back of his neck flush with heat. “I can’t believe we’re doing this.”

“Neither can I,” Magpie said. “Your costume. It’s different.”

It was. Nick had changed it only the week before, because all of the white suddenly felt a bit too gaudy, a bit too much. There was still white on his costume, but it had been reduced to an accent colour along with the gold. His costume now was deep oxblood red, the Sunman symbol still shiny-gold bright above his heart.

“I fancied a change,” he said. “What’s the current situation?”

Magpie turned back to the warehouse he was observing before. For a moment, Nick thought he might slip, and fall off the edge, but he stayed precisely where he was.

“So far? The person receiving the shipment isn’t here, but the goods are. About four guards inside, four out here, patrolling clockwise every ten minutes around our target. No guns, but they do have crowbars. I’ve got visuals on them,” Magpie hummed, tapping his mask. Apparently, the white eyes of his mask were some kind of camera-screen-lense combination, so he could see out and no one could see in. “No sound, though. So although I’ve got estimates on when the big guy is getting here, he could surprise us.”

“Want me to check?” Nick offered.

“Check?” Magpie asked, and he was frowning. Nick could tell he was frowning. “Can you do that?”

He looked to the warehouse Magpie was watching.

“Super hearing,” he found himself explaining, almost lamely. “It’s - I can control it. How much I listen in. It was the first thing Sunman taught me. You can’t listen to everyone who needs help. It’s not possible. You only hurt yourself.”

Was he saying too much?

Probably. Magpie had only asked how Sunboy could check, not for all the weirdness that came with it.

Magpie was quiet, then he looked at Nick.

“That sounds awful,” he murmured, and it looked like he meant it. “I’m really sorry. That must suck.”

Nick’s face was burning again. He knew it, because it felt like his heart was burning too. “It’s not too bad,” he said. “You get used to it. Uh, thank you though.”

Magpie’s own face was flushed red, and he mumbled something in response. Nick hummed in response, and adjusted his hearing to listen in on the people below. He listened for a while, catching pieces of conversations that he wished he wouldn’t, until -

“They say it’ll be another hour before the buyer gets here,” Nick reported. “Which I think gives us an hour to take them out.”

Magpie grinned at him. “What are we waiting for then? Let’s go!”

And he leapt off the roof, and just for a moment - frozen, suspended, stilled in time - Nick thought he would fall, but he pulled out a grappling gun, shot it, and swung away, towards the warehouse only to land by kicking a guard in the face.

Nick grimaced, and zipped afterMagpie. _Note to self. The Birds are reckless._

Despite that - despite that horrifying moment of just maybe - it was - it was _fun_. Fighting with Magpie, tag-team style, watching as the other hero twirled and flipped his way around the thugs, only to lash out with his fist or his staff to land a solid _thud!_ to the back one of their heads. Taking in pride in how much he helped, focusing on the thugs that wouldn’t go down and yelling to Magpie to watch out, just behind him, be careful! Defeating human evils that were just as great as the creatures Nick normally fought.

It took them about twenty minutes. Magpie apparently timed all his fights.

Afterwards, they zip-tied the goons together and called in the police, retreating back to the factory rooftop. Nick held out his fist, and Magpie stared at it for a moment, before he let out a little ‘oh!’ and bumped it with his own.

“What do we do now?” Nick asked, just as the police arrived. “Go for post-fight ice-cream to celebrate? I mean,” he added, face heating again, “that’s what me and Sunman like to do...”

Magpie grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I mean… I would and all but I promised Ol- _Fledgling_ I’d be back before 2 AM. He waits up for me, and you know, he’s still in primary school. I’ve got to try and set a good example.”

“Oh,” Nick said, disappointment colouring his tone. “No, no I get that completely! I should probably be getting back too, before Ms. Nelson starts to worry…”

“But… maybe some other time?” Magpie offered, a smile - not a grin but a smile, shy and coy and beautiful. “And maybe… you could call me Charlie when we do?”

For a moment, it didn’t quite click. Nick just stared at him, wondering, his mind-almost blank, then - “Oh. _Oh!_ I’d love that!” He grinned back. “But only if you call me Nick.”

The smile changed - still beautiful, still lovely and rooting itself into Nick’s memory, his heart, but now it was radiant, confident. Like a moonbeam. “Deal!”

Nick laughed, pulling his friend into a hug for a moment, two, three, before letting go and taking off into the night. “I’ll see you soon!” 

“It’s a date!” Magpie - no, _Charlie_ yelled back, and Nick watched as he pulled out the grappling gun and disappeared into the night.

* * *

Michael made them all another hot chocolate as Nick called up everyone who Tori hadn’t dared to. Each answer was the same - no, they hadn’t seen Nightingale, but they would keep an eye out and be available in case things got worse - and each answer only only made his heart sink more and more.

Tori had eased out of non-verbality, but kept quiet anyway. Kept searching on the computers. Kept rewinding and playing surveillance footage, watching. Kept flicking between the screens, occasionally calling Michael over to watch footage she had sped up, just for an extra pair of eyes.

“Shit!”

Nick jerked, whipping his head up to look at Tori. Her eyes were fixed to the screen, but she gestured for him to approach.

“It’s been tampered with,” she explained quietly, pointing. She kept shaking her head, tapping the screen with her finger. “It’s - the time I was gone. The entire footage has been replaced. Erased entirely by someone outside the network. Look -” she went back, played the footage. On the windowsill, a very sickly looking houseplant appeared, then disappeared as she rewound it. “We threw that one out two days ago. It shouldn’t be in today’s footage. It’s - the actual stitching isn’t perfect, but they were able to access our system. Only us two can do that. Maybe Olly or Becky, but I don’t think - they wouldn’t do that. Whoever did this, they knew. They knew.”

That was the stilling thought. Not one of them spoke. Just watched the footage over, the appearing and disappearing houseplant. Gone, then there. Gone, then there.

Gone. Then there.

“...did you ring Olly?” Michael asked. “Because if - if it’s _them_ , and they went for Charlie…”

Tori snapped into life.

“Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck -”

She lunged for her communicator, pressed at it frantically, then put it down on the table, curling back up into herself. Speaker on, the device rang out, loud, clear, bold.

“Olly, please,” Tori pleaded, her eyes closed. “Please. Pick up.”

* * *

“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this,” Nick said, faintly aware that he sounded close to delirious. “I can’t believe we’re actually getting ice cream together.”

Charlie grinned at him, stirring his partially melted ice cream. “I can’t either,” he said, and he reached out and squeezed Nick’s hand. “But we are! We are. We’re here.” 

Turned out, arranging a date with a full-time high schooler part-time sidekick was hard.

Especially when that full-time high schooler part-time sidekick’s mentor was upset with them for - as Charlie quoted to Nick in full - ‘recklessly endangering not only yourself but Sunboy, revealing your identity in a situation where it wasn’t called for, risking the lives of those you fought against by bringing a meta into a fight where one wasn’t need, and setting a bad example to your brother. Yes, really. You did’.

 _‘He was asleep when I got back anyway’_ Charlie had texted. _‘And he was sad he didn’t get to see you :(’_

The distance between their two cities was also a hindrance. Sunboy could make the flight in under an hour and a half. Nick Nelson had to take the train - changing platforms because there wasn’t a direct line between Belenusby and Pianet - which would at least double the journey time without delays on top.

That wasn’t even taking into account their vastly different schedules. Turned out, Charlie was sort of incredibly-rich - or at least his adoptive guardian was - and so he went to some very intensive, very-high pressure school, so when he wasn’t training or patrolling or looking after Olly, he was revising. Nick, meanwhile, had his rugby team and practice almost every day.

_‘It’s so weird to think of you having a civilian identity’_  
_‘and you?? play rugby??? with SUPER STRENGTH?????’_  
_‘how have you NOT broken anyone’s bone by accident’_

_‘...luck?’_

Talking to Charlie felt nice. Whenever they talked - which every chance they could take, they could snatch - Nick felt almost like drifting clouds, soft, content, balanced perfectly with glowing warmth that rushed over him every time. Like they were dating, even though they weren’t dating.

Maybe they were dating. Just a little. 

But Charlie hadn’t said anything about what they were, and Nick didn’t want to make everything awkward or make Charlie feel uncomfortable or ruin everything between them, so he didn’t ask. Just sent a lot of post-match and post-fight pictures to Charlie as often as he could.

A month and a half went by before they made progress, and even though they saw each other as Sunboy and Magpie, they didn’t team-up on a solo mission again. Then Charlie rang Nick, excited and giddy and breathless, and explained The Plan, His Plan, Their Plan, and it would work, it was almost too simple, and look, even Crowman agreed, well, not agreed, but he didn’t say no, so he basically approved. 

The Saturday after that, Charlie had met Nick at the train station, and for a moment - one steadying, heart-stopping moment - all they could do was smile, softly and stupidly. Nick could only think about how he so so _badly_ wanted, no, longed to hug him or take his hand or _anything at all_ until suddenly Charlie was tugging himself away from Nick, cheeks aflame, with a ‘c’mon, I know the perfect place’ and the moment was lost.

So now they were here, sitting inside a café called Café Rivière, together, in a booth across from one another, sharing severely delayed post-fight ice creams on a maybe-not-quite date. Holding hands. But casually, like mates did.

“Fun fact,” Nick said, pointing his spoon at Charlie, “the idea of a post-fight ice cream is that you get something big. Something decadent. Something huge. Not that.”

Indeed, Charlie’s order of a single scoop of vanilla with hundreds-and-thousands looked slightly sad compared to Nick‘s usual order of a cookies-and-cream sundae (with extra fudge cubes and crushed oreos). Charlie stilled for a moment, his grip on Nick’s hand going slack, but he flashed a grin, like someone had told him to smile for an unwanted photo.

“Some of us,” Charlie said, deliberately, almost teasingly, resuming his stirring, “don’t have super metabolisms that let us eat whatever we want. Some of us are, you know, just regular humans pretending to be super so criminals don’t get too cocky.”

Frowning, Nick let go of Charlie’s hand. The smile Charlie was giving didn’t quite suit him, didn’t quite fit on his face.

“I don’t have a super metabolism,” Nick whined, pouting. “I just… have not-human biology?”

“Super metabolism,” Charlie repeated, putting his spoon down. “Also I’m just… not a big eater?” He shrugged, looking down at the table. “Not at the moment, at least.”

“It’s fine,” Nick said, but Charlie didn’t move. The smile on his face faded into a thin line, and there was this distant, unfamiliar look settling.

That had been the strangest thing to get used to that day. Seeing Magpie’s full face. There had been something odd about seeing the sidekick maskless, about seeing Charlie instead of Magpie. Perhaps it was due to the eyes. As Magpie, they were blank-white lenses, devoid of identity or emotion. As Charlie? They were a sharp, brilliant, human blue that revealed just a little too much.

Nick didn’t like what they were revealing just then. The look on his face - that guanted, slightly withdrawn, haunted look - stirred that feeling, that yearn to help, what drew Nick into heroism in the first place, what guided him. The desire to protect, shield, reassure.

Except normally, Nick could just punch the problem away. He couldn’t do that here.

“If you want…” he began, slowly, rubbing the back of his neck, “we could go for a walk instead? You could show me around Pianet - I’ve only seen the warehouses and what was on the way here.”

Charlie looked back up and - yes, there it was. His actual smile, and all the trust Nick could hold onto.

“Yeah,” Charlie said, nodding slightly. “I’ll show you around. That sounds… nice.”

So they paid for the ice cream and left Café Rivière.

Night had washed over the city, an ink-wash watercolour of indigo broken by the glowing light from streetlights and shops still yet to shut. Charlie was smiling again, and he tugged Nick away, down the street, into the darkness that was the city of Pianet. 

Though, the city didn’t seem dark with Charlie. Nick was familiar with Pianet insofar as anyone was; knowing it through the rumours, the nicknames, through the statistics and the way news reporters would shake their heads and sigh when it came up in another incident. Not from the way Charlie knew it, the way his eyes would shine as he pointed out a hidden gem, or the spot of a particularly tough fight. They walked for what seemed like forever, taking in the city, the skyscrapers and small businesses, the sudden breaks of greenery amongst concrete and steel.

Somehow, along the way, they had started holding hands again. Charlie was almost cool to the touch, not clammy, not icy, but not unpleasant. His hands were slightly nicked and calloused, one his knuckles still cut and scabbed over from a fight two nights ago. Not hands a sixteen year old boy should have, but ones that were suitable for a sidekick. For a hero.

“Does no one say anything at your school?” Nick asked, running his thumb over the cut.

“Not really,” Charlie replied absently. “They all think I do a lot of martial arts, and I don’t get hit in the face that often. It’s just a case of putting on some makeup if I do.”

Nick nodded. They had stopped now, just shy of the light shining from the streetlamp, in a street that was abandoned, neither commercial nor residential - behind the shops, but not quite where people were able to settle. Old office buildings yet to be torn down.

“I’m glad I’m seeing Pianet like this,” he said, squeezing Charlie’s hand. “The warehouses weren’t the best introduction.”

“Mm.” Charlie’s head was tipped back, his gaze up, up, upwards. “Wish we could go up to the rooftops. You didn’t get to see the full view last time. It’s so - _different_. The whole city is different. You understand why people love it when you see it like that.”

Nick glanced around them. All the streets were empty, bare, aside from a very disinterested looking alleycat.

“We could go, you know,” he said quietly. “Go up there. I could fly us. There’s no one around.”

A smile, small, almost sly, appeared as Charlie kept looking upwards. “You say that,” he said, laughter hidden at the edges, “but there’s a solid chance Crowman is lurking just around the corner.”

A step closer, still holding hands, but now almost pressed together, shoulder to shoulder, warmth to chill. “He’s not. I checked.”

That was when Charlie turned to Nick, smiling. A warning, danger, flashed in his eyes.

“Then I’d like that,” he said, lifting his arms and pulling Nick in. “I’d like that a lot.”

One final glance - just to be safe, just in case - before Nick held Charlie tight, and pushed off the ground, not too quick, but not not slow either, and counted the seconds as they rose, counted the floors of the buildings around them, until they were gone, and the two boys were suspended in air, until Nick moved again, guiding them to the roof. Once over the rooftop, he landed, as gently as he could, and wondered why ground always felt just that bit more solid beneath his feet after flight. For a moment stretched long, both of them were still, just holding onto each, and Nick _wondered_. 

But it ended, and Charlie was gone from Nick’s grasp, already at the edge of the rooftop, leaning out as far as he could without falling. Silently, Nick joined him.

Below them, Pianet stretched out into velvet-dark night. Hundreds, thousands of lights, from the new office buildings, shopping centres, tower blocks of flats. Further, beyond them, separated by a thick river, the housing estates, running alongside the motorway, offer their own illumination. A skyline, the spires Pianet Cathedral strong and silhouetted, beckoning, as the building below glowed.

 _Oh_.

Since when had he taken hold of Charlie’s hand again?

“My first night,” Charlie said, and Nick turned to look at him, “he took me to the Cathedral, and we climbed the spire. It’s the tallest cathedral in this country, and the spire’s the highest point. He wanted to show me this. Pianet. I wasn’t born here - I think I was born in Spain, actually, or Wales, but we travelled a lot - but this. This is my city now. It’s under my protection.”

There it was again. The distant, faraway look in his eyes. One that Nick understood.

Earth wasn’t his planet. It was still his home.

“We could go higher,” Nick blurted, and suddenly all he could see was the blue of Charlie’s eyes. “It’s - it would be cold, for you I mean, and I know that Crowman wouldn’t like it but - ”

“No, we should… I’d like to go higher.”

Charlie blinked, shook his head and looked up, turning to Nick. He stepped closer to him. Reached out, put his arms around Nick’s shoulders. 

“I’d really like it if we went higher,” he said quietly.

It was instinct to take off. Perhaps he went a little too fast, judging from the way Charlie squeaked and clung onto him. So he slowed, just slightly, until they were level with the tip of the Pianet Cathedral spire, and that was where he stopped. He pulled Charlie in a little closer, feeling the boy shiver in his arms as the chilled wind blew about them, and he wished that he had his cape on already, just to wrap around Charlie. Then he looked out, out over Pianet, and away.

From where they were, they could see almost everything, even in the dark. More than Pianet - the towns that surrounded the city, then the fields beyond, farms and nature preserves, then the coastline, cliffs and beaches, then the sea…

Charlie was squeezing Nick’s shoulders.

“Isn’t this amazing?” Nick breathed, as Charlie turned his head, looking up and Nick couldn’t help but smile, and then -

They were kissing.

Up in the sky, so high up, so far above, kissing, the feeling of golden light, warm and delicate, full of life and _lovely_ blooming, rushing through Nick.

He opened his eyes. Pulled away, but kept his grip on Charlie, rested his forehead against him. Felt everything - the flush heating, igniting within, the whirr of his brain, thoughts crashing like waves against the shore, the life, the boy he had just kissed. The tremble of his lips, slightly swollen. Felt human, new human, new life, new heart. And he looked.

He looked at Charlie.

And Charlie looked -

 _awed_.

Gently, slowly, Nick floated downwards, waiting until he felt the solidness of a roof beneath his feet. All felt quiet, except for the gentle thrum, the quick _da-dum, da-dum_ of Charlie’s heartbeat echoing, flooding everything Nick could sense.

“I didn’t think…” he started, then flushed as Charlie laughed.

“I asked you on a date,” Charlie said, and his voice was just at the edge of nervy, “and you didn’t think I’d kiss you? We’ve been holding hands all night.”

“Well… I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable,” Nick mumbled, though he couldn’t help but smile at hearing Charlie say the word ‘date’.

Charlie just laughed again - light, airy, carefree but fragile - before he sat down on the rooftop, returning his gaze to look out over Pianet. Nick sat down beside him, though not too close, not pressed against him, and instead, he looked upwards, at the dark and starless sky above.

How long they sat there, Nick didn’t quite know. It could have been hours, or simply moments, before Charlie spoke.

“I chose Magpie because of my sister.”

Nick tore his eyes away from the sky, turned towards Charlie. He was hunched over, curled up, knees tucked up and drawn to his chest, the soft star-gold light illuminating the curves of his face.

“Charlie?”

“The first time we met,” Charlie continued, softly, no louder than the beat of a bird’s wing, “you asked why I picked Magpie for my name. And it’s because of my sister. They’re her favourite bird.”

Nick swallowed. “I didn’t know you had a sister.”

Charlie raised his head, but didn’t turn to look at Nick. Kept looking out, looking away.

“Is she -” Nick ventured, but stopped as Charlie shook his head.

“No. She’s not - I don’t know why people always assume someone has to be dead for you to become a hero. She’s alive.” Then, whisper quiet. “She’s alive. She’s alive. She’s alive.”

He moved a little closer. Not too close so it was unbearable, but close enough in case he was needed.

“What happened to her?” Nick asked softly. “If you… if you want to talk about it, I mean.”

For a moment, Charlie was still. Silent. When he spoke, he didn’t quite sound like himself.

“After our parents - after our parents’ accident, we were in foster care for a bit, separate homes, they kept me with Olly but put her across town. I don’t know why. They said it was temporary, that it wasn’t for long - and it wasn’t, considering everything after and everything at the time, but it seemed huge. And she - I don't know what _happened_ to her, but - she wasn’t herself. There was just this - conviction, this fire, this obsession. She couldn’t accept what happened. She starts going out at night, getting into trouble, looking into things, things that aren’t really there, but she thinks there is.”

He inhaled, a deep, shuddery breath, but continued.

“Fuck, she found out Crowman’s identity - turns out he was there that night, he saw us, saw our parents, was trying to adopt us - and she tried to tell me. Took pictures and everything. Tried to make me care about it, but I just - I couldn’t, I was too stressed with Olly and everything else. I told her she was getting paranoid. That she was wrong.”

His knuckles went white as he clutched at his own shoulders.

“Well, she was right. Someone bigger was after our parents. And that someone took her.” “She broke into my room one night. Woke me up and said that she loved me, and that if anything happened to her, I had to use what was on her laptop, what was on the note she was leaving me. I just - I didn’t even open my eyes, just shrugged her off and went back to sleep. Next day she -”

He broke off with a sob. Tears, hot, damaged tears were running down his face. Before he had even thought about it, Nick was hugging Charlie, the other boy sobbing into his shoulder and Nick tried to soothe him, one hand stroking Charlie’s hair. 

“It’s okay,” Nick murmured. “Charlie, it’s okay -”

“I failed her,” Charlie whispered. “I _failed_ her.” He pulled away, looked up at Nick. There was - something to his expression, bright, fixed, and burning. Then, in a louder, steadier voice. “So that’s why I’m Magpie. That’s why Crowman took me on, why he adopted me and Olly not long after. Because I told him, I have to find my sister. I have to make it up to her. So Magpie - it’s my promise to her. It’s - a promise.”

He broke again, burying his face into Nick’s shoulder, and cried.

Afterwards, when all of this would be finished, Nick would sneak away to pull on his Sunboy costume. Charlie would wait for him, and then Nick would fly him home, where a disapproving Youseff Farouk and an excited Oliver Spring was waiting. They would share another kiss - still shy with the newness of it all - and Charlie would apologise for crying so much while Nick would tell him not to apologise. Tentative plans would be made, for a date, another team, and then Nick would fly home to Belenusby.

In that moment, however, before all of that happened, the only thing they did - the only thing they could - was hold onto each other, grateful.

* * *

The Birds had a lot of enemies. That in itself wasn’t unusual, that usually came with the territory. They were heroes - heroes had villains, and villains were often their enemies. 

Tori, however, had one big enemy. One big enemy that didn’t give up, didn’t give in, and didn’t know where to draw the line.

“Pick up,” she repeated. Her fingers were tapping the arm of her chair, onetwothree, onetwothree. “Olly, pick up. Pick up now.”

As if by magic, the ringing stopped, and the sound shifted, mutated. No video, but they didn’t always use that.

“Tori?” Oliver Spring’s voice. Casual, calm. There were more sounds, shifting, stretching, yawning. Good signs. Not perfect signs, but good ones, ones that Nick felt lighter by hearing. “Why’re you calling? Shouldn’t you be -” 

“Are you okay?” Tori snapped. Her tapping only got worse, and Michael reached for her hand, started tracing triangles and stars on her skin.

“... on patrol, yeah, no I’m fine.” His voice went lower, quavering at the edges. “Why? Is - Should I not be okay? Are - are you okay? Is -”

“Charlie’s gone missing,” Michael cut in, because Tori’s eyes had shut again. “He wasn’t in the Roost when Tori woke up at about 2PM, and we haven’t been able to contact him. Everywhere we checked has pulled up naught. We don’t _know_ yet if they’re involved but -”

“But you should be careful,” Tori said sharply. “Don’t leave the Crow’s Nest whatever you do. And for the love of god, do not try to fight them off yourself, Olly.”

“Hey, I’m not seven anymore!” he protested. 

Nick couldn’t help but grin, memories surfacing of a seven-eight-nine year old Olly - dressed in his Fledgling disguise, of course - staring down villains trying to kidnap him and unspeakable horrors, convinced he was skilled enough to take them down because ‘my siblings can too!’. More than once he had bitten someone mid-kidnapping attempt. Charlie had reported an uptick of villains wearing arm guards after word of those incidents had spread.

“You said you haven’t heard from Charlie all day?” Olly asked, and his voice was quiet. Not Olly-like at all. “Have you checked with Nick? They had that fight a bit ago but y’know, maybe they’re just making up. You know how they get when they reunite, it’s disgusting.”

Tori shot a withering look at Nick, and he cringed.

“... Nick’s there, isn’t he?”

“Um, hi Olly,” he said, smiling even though Olly couldn’t see him. “Uh, how’s school?”

Okay, so not his best attempt. Tori looked distinctly unimpressed and Michael shook his head.

“Eh, alright?” He could hear the shrug in the teenager’s voice. “You an’ Charlie made up yet?”

The silence spoke for him, or at least Nick hoped he did, wincing as Olly sighed. Disappointment from Olly had always stung more, even as he had grown up and out of his hero-worship.

“... I spoke to Charlie this morning,” Olly said, his voice low. “I rang him yesterday, and again today - maybe about eleven? It was before lunch - and he was - he wasn’t -”

“Olly?” Tori’s voice was soft, even as Olly paused.

Time stretched on, until, at last, he spoke again.

“He wasn’t in danger,” he said, slowly, carefully, “but I don’t think he was happy. Did - was he unhappy? When you saw him?”

Nick turned away. Looked out the window. Wondered if he could slip back out without anyone noticing.

“He…” Tori stopped herself. Maybe she squeezed Michael’s hand. “He wasn’t at his best. You don’t think -”

“No.” That was said a little too quickly. The hesitation was thick as Olly continued.. “But I think. I think maybe I upset him.”

“Why?” Silence, then, desperation bleeding through Tori - “Oliver Spring, what did you do -”

“I told him I want to be Magpie.”

* * *

Three months after Nick and Charlie had started dating, Charlie found his sister. 

Or rather, he thought he found his sister, when he was out on patrol as Magpie, and then before he could do anything, she escaped from view and disappeared altogether. Charlie tried to chase after, but Crowman stopped him. Probably because Charlie’s injuries were still smarting from earlier that evening, and from the sounds of it, he had been ignoring a moderate-sized stab wound.

“It was her, it was, I swear,” he muttered over the phone. It sounded like he was determined to break the keyboard he was using. “I yelled her name, and she turned, and it was her, Nick, okay, I know my own sister, it was _her_ , it had to be, only my family can do the stunts she did -”

From experience, Nick knew it could have been anything but his sister. A clone, an android, an illusion, or even just a doppelganger. Once someone left, it was easy to forget the little things. When someone returned, it was easier to imagine them.

“Charlie.”

“She left something.” It was as though Nick hadn’t spoken at all. “I checked, and there was this - it’s like a playing card. And there’s this symbol, it’s like the Ace of Hearts crossed with an A and I know. It had to be her.”

A month after that - a month of not seeing Charlie, just Magpie, whenever they teamed up, whenever Magpie needed his help with a lead, a month of being pushed off and to the side, hearing snatches of cases and _‘I’m so close to finding her’_ , a month of watching and worrying - Charlie called him again. Just through the in-ear comms rather than the phone.

“I need you to come watch Fledgling.” His voice was hurried, breathless. “Like, right now.”

“What?” Nick was in his bedroom, lying on his bed, Nellie the newly-discovered Sundog asleep on his stomach.

Another sound, a thud, like Magpie had landed roughly on a rooftop. He swore under his breath.

“I need you,” he repeated, “to come watch Fledgling. I changed the security so you can get straight to the Crow’s Nest. I - I found their location, Sunboy. I found my sister, and I’m going to rescue her.”

_No -_

Nick bolted upright, scrambled off his bed. “Please tell me Crowman is there.”

Silence.

“Char-”

“No names over comms,” he hissed. There was the sound of running feet again, the _chick-whirr_ of a grappling gun fired. “I’m going in alone, but he’s after me, so _I need you to go look after Fledgling now_.”

“Let me -”

“I have to do this by myself,” Charlie ground out. Another rough landing from the sounds of it. “And for the record? The more time you waste trying to convince me not to do this, the more time Fledgling is alone and at risk.”

Nellie was looking at Nick curiously as he pulled out his costume.

“It’s not like I was the one to leave him, was I?” he snapped back, slipping into Sunboy’s outfit and starting a new search. Leash, leash, where was Nellie’s damn leash? “At least let me listen to your heart.”

The sounds from Charlie’s end stopped. “What?”

Of course he left the leash on the beanbag. He clipped it to Nellie’s collar, and unfurled her cape from where it was rolled up and tucked beneath.

“Just - super hearing,” Nick explained. “I can focus on someone’s heartbeat. And if you - if you insist on this - on going alone - then I need to listen to it. To know you’re still alive. And the moment your heartbeat changes,” he added, “then I’m coming straight for you. I don’t care what you say. I’m not letting you - I can’t let you die.” And, although he knew it was cheap, knew it was angry, hurtful, and maybe just cruel, “How would Olly take it if you died?”

A moment of silence.

“ _Fine_.” Just a second, Charlie sounded like a teenager being asked to clean his room. Sounded so - so ordinary. “Just - Just get to Fledgling, okay?”

“Okay,” Nick said, quietly. “Please. Take care.”

“I will. Thank you.”

The comm line shut. Nick doubted he’d get another response if he opened it again, so he opened his window. Stopped, then opened his hearing and searched for the sound of Charlie’s heart.

...ah. There it was. A little elevated, but given that it sounded like he had been running across rooftops, that wasn’t anything to worry about. Nick focused on it, filtered out other noise and sounds until it was solitary background music. 

“Come on Nellie,” he said, tugging at her leash as he climbed out the window. “Time to fly.”

Maybe he flew a little faster than normal.

Olly practically threw himself at Nick when he arrived at the Crow’s Nest. He was in Sunman pyjamas and his hair was stuck up all over, and even though he buried his face into Nick’s shoulder, it was impossible to miss the tear-tracks down his cheeks.

“I wan’ my brother,” he mumbled, and he wailed. “I want my brother!”

Nick pulled him into a tighter hug.

There wasn’t really anything they could do once Olly calmed down. They video-called Ms. Nelson - mostly because she rang Nick on the verge of tears as he’d left without warning - and cooked together, following a video they found online. Nellie followed them about, lavishing in the attention offered to her by Olly, who was smiling, but not as bright as he usually did. He even rejected Nick’s offer to fly about the Crow’s Nest again. Just sat by the training mats and worked on his homework. When he had finished that, he curled into Nick’s side as they watched Dreamworks films together, even as the night stretched on. In his arms, Olly clung onto him tight; not asleep, but not fully awake. Beside him, Nellie was asleep, her head resting on Olly’s lap. A dog’s idea of comfort.

The entire time, Nick listened to Charlie’s heartbeat. Kept tracking the pace, how it never quite settled back into resting.

It was only when they were halfway the Penguins of Madagascar film and on their fourth mug of hot chocolate did anything change. Charlie’s heartbeat was still fast-fast- _fast_ , fluttering, almost, but that wasn’t what caught his attention. From across the Crow’s Nest, Olly’s comm crackled, then came to life -

“Sunboy? Fledgling?” It was breathy, panting, but familiar. Alive. “Are you there? Repeat, Sunboy, Fledgling, are you there?”

“Magpie?” He couldn’t keep the relief tempered by worry out of his voice. “We’re here. Do you need assistance? What’s the situation code? Do I -” he swallowed - “do I need to put Fledgling on the line? Is everything okay?”

A laugh, grateful and just a bit on the hysterical side but _alive_ , bloomed from the other end of the comm channel, startling Olly awake.

“Nick?” he mumbled.

“Oh my god,” Charlie said. “Oh my god. _Nick_ , it’s okay. Everything is okay, more than okay, she’s - she’s alive. Get here, please. Bring Olly. Co-ords are -”

He was barely listening. Even as Charlie repeated the coordinates, he grinned at the wide-eyed Olly, swept him up into a hug. The younger boy squealed, but threw his arms around Nick and buried his face in Nick’s shoulder again.

“Is Charlie -”

“Olly,” Nick said, glee clear. “Olly, he’s fine. He’s got your sister. We’re going to them now. We’re gonna fly, okay?”

Olly pulled away from Nick, his face bright, grinning, starry-eyed. “Yes!”

They didn’t bother to put Olly’s mask on. Just rushed out of the cave, Olly cradled close to Nick’s chest and Nellie close to their side as they flew on towards the location Charlie had given. It wasn’t far. Perhaps Nick went a little too fast, rushed just a bit too much, but the boy in his arm didn’t complain. Just stared up at Nick in the way he was used to - like he was a saviour, and not just a teenager carrying a child to see his siblings.

Smoke filled the air the closer they got, just a light scent at first, then denser, arcid in the back of Nick’s throat. Orange, heat-red, flickering and dancing, yellow curling, blazing, taunting as it engulfed, embraced, consumed the building. Fire - flames. It had been less than five minutes since Charlie called.

Five minutes meant anything when it came to heroics.

Five minutes meant everything was burning.

Nick stumbled as he landed, just far enough that the blaze couldn’t hurt him, couldn’t hurt Olly. Distantly, he was aware that he was holding his cape over Olly’s noise and mouth, aware of Nellie’s small whine. Was his cape even any good at air filtration? No matter. More important that Olly couldn’t see. Wasn’t suffering. To the left of him, a figure limped. He knew who it was. It could only be him.

“Sunboy,” Crowman rasped as he drew closer. “Sunboy, thank god -”

“What - what happened?”

He was used to disaster. He was used to disaster. _He was used to disaster -_

“Magpie said everything was fine,” Nick whispered, staring at the inferno.

“It only just caught fire,” Crowman said, then turned. He let out a strangled gasp. “The roof -”

His gaze snapped up. Two figures, hugging each other, as their surroundings burned around them.

Nick didn’t think. Thrusted Olly at Crowman and shot off. Hurtled towards the pair on the roof. Ignored Olly’s cry for him to come back, until Nick was there, stopped. The heat of flames was oppressive on his skin as he hovered in front of the pair. One of them looked up, and laughed, even as Nick’s own heart skipped a beat.

“Nick!”

Charlie, Magpie mask off, there in front of him, looking tired and worn, tear tracks standing out where they had washed away soot, but smiling, smiling brighter than Nick had ever seen. Slightly singed, slightly bruised and bleeding, but alive, clinging to a girl slightly smaller than him, but strikingly alike. Right down to the eyes.

“Nick!” Charlie repeated. “Nick it’s - she’s okay! Everything’s okay! Victoria, Tori, this is - oh, shit, I already said your name, fuck it -”

“Sunboy,” his sister - Victoria, apparently, but maybe also Tori - said quietly. “And also Nick?”

Nick couldn’t help but laugh. “Nicholas Nik-al Nelson, really. Guess you made it out alright?”

Charlie smiled sheepishly. “She, uh. Didn’t actually need my help that much. I just kinda punched someone and pulled her away from some flames. Everything is okay though!”

“Everything is also on fire,” Nick reminded him, and opened his arms. “Come on. Let’s get you down. Olly’s waiting for you.”

That was all it took for the two siblings to separate and step into Nick’s arms. Tori’s eyes were gleaming, though she kept blinking, like she still wasn’t quite sure what she could trust. Nick held onto them tight, then flew back to where Crowman and Olly were.

The moment he touched the ground, Tori was out of his arms, Charlie quick behind her. They were running, and Olly was running too, until they collided, all three of them, Tori’s arms wrapped tight around Olly, Olly’s arms around her, Charlie’s arms around all three of them -

“Oh my god,” Tori was saying, crying as she hugged her baby brother. “Oh my god, Olly, you’ve grown so much -”

Nick felt a hand on his shoulder, heavy with concern. A glance revealed it to be Crowman, an unfamiliar look in his eyes as he nodded at Nick. Nick paused, then nodded back slowly. He understood.

It wasn’t his scene. This wasn’t for him. So he turned his back, and stood next to Crowman, Nellie at his heel, as the Spring siblings fell back together to the backdrop of sunrise.

* * *

“No.” Tori’s voice was as sharp as a knife. “No. You are not taking over Magpie. You’re too young -”

“I’m fifteen,” Olly snapped back. “I’ve been working comms and intel for you guys for years, Charlie was the same age when he started -”

“Charlie didn’t have a choice -”

“Well I do, and I want to -”

“Guys,” Nick tried. Michael glanced at him and shrugged. 

“- and he did it and I did it so you wouldn’t have to -”

“- and guess what, there’s still a need for Magpie -“

“Guys.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to Magpie!”

“Better me than some random kid off the street -”

“ _Guys _.” Nick cut in. “We’re not doing this now. You can talk about this after we find Charlie.”__

__Tori stiffened at the mention of Charlie and looked away. Olly fell silent. The atmosphere in the Roost thickened and cooled again._ _

__Groaning, Nick hid his face in his hands. It wasn’t - did Tori and Charlie really not think that Olly would want to take up their old mantle at some point? Did they really think he’d be happy on comms and intel forever? Shit, if Olly was energetic as a kid, it was tenfold now he was a teen. He was basically an energy drink personified. Of course he wanted to be Magpie. He’d probably been out in the uniform once already._ _

__“So you told Charlie you want to be Magpie,” Michael’s voice brought Nick back to the Roost. Right. “Do you remember what he said after that?”_ _

__Olly was quiet, a sign of his hesitation, before he sighed._ _

__“He… He didn’t really say anything,” he said. “Like, he wasn’t pleased about it. But he didn’t start to argue with me? He just kinda went ‘oh’ and then I asked him if it was alright, and he said yeah, even though I could tell it wasn’t, but then he started going on about patrol injuries and how tired he was so I just - left it? Updated him on a few case leads and how school is treating me and then hung up.” He added, in a much smaller voice, ”I think maybe I shouldn’t have left it.”_ _

__Tori shook her head. “You couldn’t have known this would happen,” she said softly. “He’s not had a good time recently, Olly, you can’t blame yourself for that. It’s not your fault, pet.”_ _

__“But I didn’t help,” Olly said, sounding helpless._ _

__“It’s not your fault,” Tori repeated. “At least that gives us a better idea of what happened. I don’t think he was taken.”_ _

__Nick stared at her, jaw slack. Michael looked equally surprised, eyebrows raised._ _

__“You don’t?” Nick asked, only to wince as Tori shot him an icy-venom glare._ _

__“I don’t,” she said. “I think he left on his own accord. No - I know he did. He left by himself.”_ _

__It wasn’t quite relief that flooded through Nick. Relief would have felt better. It wasn’t quite hope either, but it was close. Something in between the two._ _

__“It’s okay, Olly,” Tori continued soothingly, though it didn’t quite match the glare she was giving Nick. “I think we’ll find him after all. Keep an eye out for us, okay? And don’t think you’ve gotten out of that Magpie talk - as soon as this all settles down, we’re discussing this. _All_ of us, Crowman included.”_ _

__Sometimes, Nick was very, very grateful that Tori wasn’t his sister._ _

__“I’ll… I’ll keep that in mind,” Olly said. “I’ll check the cameras around Pianet again. We’ll find him.”_ _

__“We will,” Tori said, and then she ended the call._ _

__Immediately, she was out of her chair, she was there, upon Nick, jabbing a finger _hard_ into his chest as she glared up at him, icy white fury._ _

__“You,” she hissed, “are going to tell me exactly what you and Charlie argued about.”_ _

* * *

__Three months after Solitaire had been scorched and scattered - three months after Tori had returned to her brothers - three months after everything seemed okay, like maybe superheroes did get healing and happily-ever-afters after all - Charlie was benched._ _

__No. It was worse than that.._ _

__Charlie was _fired_ from being Magpie._ _

__They were in Nick’s bedroom, because Charlie had wanted to be as far away from his sister and Mr. Farouk as he could. Ms. Nelson had offered both teens cups of tea, but otherwise had left them alone. He was curled up beside Nick, face still wet with tears, voice rough and thick. He kept tracing patterns on Nick’s arm. Refusing to look Nick in the face._ _

__“I just,” Charlie started, then closed his eyes. “I don’t know.”_ _

__“It’s okay,” Nick tried, stroking Charlie. “It’s - it’s all going to be okay, Charlie, I promise you.”_ _

__Charlie didn’t reply. He stopped tracing patterns, but rested his hand over Nick’s instead. He had said once that Nick was always warm, but the perfect amount of warm. Soft sunshine on your face amount of warm._ _

__“...did he say why?” Nick asked carefully, squeezing Charlie’s hand. “If you. If you want to talk about it.”_ _

__Charlie smiled, and huffed what might have been his attempt at a laugh. “He said she needed it more,” he murmured, “and maybe she did. But - but that doesn’t mean he could just _take_ it. Magpie was - it’s my thing. She could have had a new identity. Like - I don’t know, like Sparrow or something. It didn’t have to be mine. She could have made something new.”_ _

__He looked away again. From the end of the bed, Nellie let out low whine, staring up at the two boys._ _

__“I mean… maybe you could too?” Nick suggested quietly. “Make a new identity, I mean.”_ _

__Charlie blinked, once, twice. Then he sat up, curiosity clear in his eyes._ _

__“What… what do you mean?” he asked. “Just… become a new hero?”_ _

__Nick mirrored him, nodding as he sat up. He reached out, took Charlie’s hands into his own. Ran his hands across the calluses and scars littering Charlie’s palms._ _

__“I’m not ready to stop being Nathan’s sidekick,” he said softly. “But maybe you are? And - and yeah, you’re only sixteen, but there’s other heroes our age. You don’t have to be a sidekick. Or you could, if you still want to talk to Crowman -” Charlie was shaking his head - “Or you could - you could try and start a team?”_ _

__“A team?” He was smiling again. Not a full smile, not the Charlie-smile Nick was used to seeing, but still a smile._ _

__“It’s just a suggestion,” Nick said, reaching out now to cup Charlie’s cheek, thumbing away a stray tear. “But… you picked Magpie for Tori. Maybe now you can pick something for you. Be your own hero.”_ _

__Charlie placed his own hand over Nick’s. Leant forward and kissed Nick, spring-youth sweet. Then he pulled away, still smiling._ _

__“I’d like that,” he said softly._ _

* * *

__Nick stumbled backwards. Tori hadn’t hurt him - she was too human to get through the invulnerability, they all were - but she still was strong and startling, forceful enough to push him around when she got the advantage._ _

__“You,” she repeated, though without the physical attack this time, “are going to tell me everything you said to my brother during that fight, whatever fucking idiotic thing it was because I know for a fact it was idiotic, and then _you_ are going to go find him, and apologise for whatever you did you say, because whatever you did say, you alien _bastard_ , it fucked him up and caused him to run away, and I swear down on Sunman that you are going to fix it or else I’m going to grab one of those stupid glowing rocks that you’re allergic to and I’ll grind it up and -”_ _

__“Tori,” Michael said. His hand was on her shoulder, not quite pulling her back, but a reminder. There were two metahumans in the room, and she wasn’t one of them. “Don’t be so harsh. Let him speak first.”_ _

__Tori faltered, and stepped back, though still glaring like a basilisk._ _

__“Speak,” she barked, all Blackbird and not at all Tori Spring. Nick winced again, and brought up his hands to cover his face._ _

__But he spoke._ _

__The truth was the argument had been coming for a while. Despite everything - despite the fact they carried the world on their shoulders, despite they were larger-than-life heroes, despite the fact they had done such miraculous feats - they were still flawed. Still human._ _

__“It… started small,” he said. “But they always start small. It’s - it’s my fault, I know it is, everything always is, but I just - I wanted him to go to bed. Get some rest.”_ _

__From the look on Tori’s face, that had caught her off guard. “He… wasn’t sleeping?”_ _

__Nick shook his head, lowering his hands. “It was - I know arguing with him wasn’t going to help him sleep, but god, Tori, I was so tired. He was eating but like - I was just so worried, and I was exhausted too. We had fought one of my guys, and as much as I love you guys, you know I trust your skills more than anything, but God, you just - you’re still _fragile_ , and he - there was this point, where he got hit, and he went down, and I didn’t think he’d get back up.”_ _

__What he doesn’t mention is the red-fury that overtook him, ignited and burned within him. How frenzied he was afterwards, how desperate to hurt he was. That didn’t matter. It never mattered._ _

__“He was - he wasn’t even that hurt,” he continued, relaxing just a little. “Nothing beyond what you guys normally get. But when we got back, he just - he didn’t want to rest at all. Kept insisting on doing case work, even though he hadn’t slept in forever. And I just - I just wanted him to lie down, for fuck’s sake. You can’t blame me for that.”_ _

__Very slowly, Michael shook his head. “No. We can’t.”_ _

__Tori’s face had been drawn back to careful neutrality. She was staring at Nick expectantly, her gaze reminding him of a tiger shark, and he cowered, just a little, very glad none of his rogues gallery could see this. The Herculean hero, Golden Sun, reduced cowering in front of the 5′3″Tori Spring. She didn’t even have her full costume on._ _

__“And then what?” she asked, her voice stil, but closer now, to Tori rather than one of Crowman’s flock._ _

__“It was - so stupid,“ Nick groaned. “I just - I don’t know. One minute I was telling him to get away from the computer, the next we were fighting about shit that didn’t even matter, just shit that was hurtful. I can’t even remember what made me say it, I just said it.”_ _

__“Said what?” A pause - because that was it, what Tori would hate him forever for - and then, “You fucking arsehole, what did you say say to him -”_ _

__Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Closed eye, so he didn’t have to see the look on her face._ _

__“I said he should stop being Nightingale.”_ _

__“You _WHAT_ -”_ _

__It was lucky Michael was the Speedster. It was lucky he was there. Tori had leapt, as though she was going to make good on her earlier threat right then and there, and he had caught her from behind, arms round her waist, pulling her back as she snarled. Nick stumbled back further, until his back was pressed against the window._ _

__“Not, as like, a forever thing!” he yelped, arms up, because the only reason Tori hadn’t escaped Michael’s hold on her was because she hadn’t given it her full strength yet. “Just for a month or two! A sabbatical or a holiday, that sort of thing. You know how he gets. It’s been what, two and a half years since his last break? It just… he didn’t take it as that.” He coughed, looking away. “I didn’t make it seem like I meant it like that.”_ _

__Shame burnt inside of him as he remembered yelling, because he always yelled, didn’t he? Too much the golden hero, the boy of stars, the fine leader, to do anything but yell when caught in an argument, especially when it came to Charlie. Remembered the words he had spat out instead of the words he had meant, poison on his tongue as they chilled and tainted the atmosphere. Remembered the stricken, _human_ look on Charlie’s face, pale and drained, a wilted sunflower, and how he had whispered, in a voice close to nothing, _‘I can’t do this’,_ before fleeing out of the window as regret overtook Nick at once._ _

__“So instead of explaining,” Tori bit off, “you just let him run off? Instead of apologising or chasing after him or anything, you just let him go? He was crying when he called, you know. He wouldn’t explain anything to me. You’ve had all this time to apologise, and you’ve done nothing.”_ _

__He risked a look at the two heroes in front of him. Tori’s glare was still heated. Michael’s eyes were clouded and his mouth thin, a frown etched into his forehead. There wasn’t anything in Nick that could blame them._ _

__“I know I fucked up, Tori,” he said, rubbing his eyes as tiredness and exhaustion fell over him like a wave. “I know. I wanted to apologise, but I didn’t think - I didn’t think he wanted to see me.”_ _

__“Fucking idiot,” Tori muttered, though it was softer now, a sigh blunting her words. “He always wants to see you.” She shook her head, then glanced up at Michael. “Also, if I could be put down right now, I’d appreciate it.”_ _

__Michael grinned sheepishly. “Sorry,” he said, lowering her to the floor. “Just didn’t want you to break your fist on his nose, that’s all.”_ _

__“You know my gloves are reinforced,” Tori snorted, but her face remained serious. “We still don’t know where Charlie is. I checked his usual brooding spots, and he wasn’t there. Even if he wasn’t taken to begin with, that doesn’t mean someone took advantage between then and now.”_ _

__“We probably would have heard something by now if that was the case,” Michael pointed out. “You guys don’t attract subtle enemies.”_ _

__Another snort as Tori elbowed Michael. “What, and the Speedster does?”_ _

__Their bickering washed over Nick as he turned to look out the window and gaze over Pianet. A memory, slightly faded and worn, flickered in Nick’s mind. An old office building, in an area of Pianet that was neither commercial or residential, not used for crime, nondescript and almost forgotten._ _

__“Blackbird,” he murmured, aware of how quickly her attention snapped to him. “Did you check everywhere?”_ _

__“Everywhere that made sense,” she said, her voice curt, back to Blackbird. “The Crow’s Nest, Pianet Cathedral, Café Rivière - I even checked the surveillance we have over in Benelusby in case he went to see you."_ _

__Where two teenagers had sat, watched the city light then soared together..._ _

__“There might have been somewhere that you missed,” he said._ _

* * *

__“I look stupid,” Charlie complained from behind the door of his en-suite._ _

__“You look fine,” Nick replied, absentmindedly scratching Nellie’s ear as they sat on Charlie’s bed. It was, quite frankly, ridiculously huge. “I mean, you wore an armoured tunic with bermuda shorts as Magpie. Anything is an improvement after that.”_ _

__Charlie made a noise of protest. “That was only for the first three months! I had already switched to the leggings and knee pads when we met!”_ _

__“Mm, Google tells me it was closer to six months,” Nick teased, smiling. “And Charlie? I promise you I won’t laugh, unless it’s really horrendous. Like, unless you have a disco collar combined with a deep v-neck or a mullet or a leotard with bare legs -”_ _

__“Alright, alright!” Charlie laughed. “Just let me put the domino on -”_ _

__Then he stepped out, into his bedroom, and Nick couldn’t breathe._ _

__Gone were the flashes of white, the shining blue. Now, there was only shadow-deep black, with streaks of jewel-shine teal, wrapping around his arms and legs. The costume itself was one piece, though fitted body armour covered the most vulnerable parts. Steel-capped boots, gauntlet gloves. A cape swept behind him, shade-dark, and a hood trimmed with teal hiding his face in shadow. The domino mask had been shaped, transformed into the silhouette of a bird with wings outstretched._ _

__It was not the costume of a sidekick. It was the costume of a superhero._ _

__“What do you think?” Charlie asked, shaking at the edges, his fists clutching his cape. “It’s a bit - I don’t know, I might change the cape length so it’s longer, but then it might get in the way of my acrobatics, so I might scrap it all together -”_ _

__He stopped when Nick stood up, much to Nellie’s dismay. He strode across the room, put his arms around Charlie, and pulled him into an embrace._ _

__“You look,” and he kissed Charlie, before pulling away and resting his forehead against his, “amazing.”_ _

__Charlie stared up at him before he flushed, dawn-pink, but that broke into a wide, bright grin._ _

__“Thank you,” Charlie said, squeezing Nick tighter before letting go, and turned towards his window._ _

__Outside, hidden from Tori and Farouk, was his motorcycle, waiting as Charlie opened the glass, Nick by his side as he climbed out. Time suspended as he began to fall, falling, flipped and landed on the cycle. He looked up, still grinning as he spotted Nick smiling back at him._ _

__“Now,” Charlie called as he brought the engine to life. “Let’s introduce Nightingale to the world!”_ _

__A month after Nightingale burst onto the heroics scene in Pianet - a month spent away from Crowman and Magpie II, a month spent ignoring them on the streets, a month spent proving himself - he formed a team, calling up on other teen heroes and sidekicks to join him. Young Guardian Force, he called it. And they did, flocking in from all over. Even Tori joined, forming a surprising partnership with Kid Quick._ _

__Nick outgrew Sunboy, took on the name of Golden Sun; Tori ran as Magpie for years before creating Blackbird. Even Kid Quick took on the role of Speedster. Charlie remained Nightingale, though he stopped working his team so much. Took on more solo missions, moved in with Tori and then with Nick. Kept dating him, even through the rough patches and off-world missions. Even through his own breakdowns and bleeding that came from the blurring of civilian life with heroics. Through everything, they were Nick and Charlie - Golden Sun and Nightingale - the ultimate partnership, going strong, going golden._ _

__They seemed - so _happy.__ _

__(They were so very, very tired.)_ _

* * *

__It took Nick just a little under ten minutes to find the building. They had visited it before, in the years between, but not frequently. Not enough to even call it a habit. Not when it had been maybe over two years since Nick had seen it, never mind sat on its roof._ _

__Charlie Spring - the first boy wonder of superheroes - was curled up just before the edge of the roof, his head down, knees drawn up and hugged close to his chest. Only the briefest turn of his head, a glimpse of the white of his eyes revealed his acknowledgement of another person before it was hidden and buried again. He was in the Nightingale costume, the hood down. His shoulders were shaking, or maybe they were shivering from the chill of the night._ _

__Sighing, Nick flicked his comm on. Tapped his ear twice, then in the pattern they all knew, but rarely used._ _

___‘Found him. All safe. No back-up needed._ _ _

__Without waiting for a response - which would be a problem later, but not now - he switched the comm off. Gently, he lowered himself until he felt the solidness of the roof beneath his feet. Making sure his footsteps could be heard, he approached Charlie carefully, and sat down beside him. Not close enough to touch, but close enough that they could, if Charlie wanted. Nick craned his head upwards, looking at the night sky._ _

__No stars ever graced the sky of Pianet. That fact was not unfamiliar to Nick, but it still slightly unnerved him._ _

__Humming to begin with, Nick broke the silence, speaking into the air._ _

__“How long have you been here?” he asked, as soft and as calm as he could._ _

__Beside him, Charlie shifted, though kept his head down._ _

__“..not long,” he murmured, voice sounding sore, rusted. Thick and choked, as though he had been crying. “I… I started out at the Cathedral, but then Tori started looking for me, and I just… Panicked, I think. Didn’t want her to see me like this. I’ve been all over. Edited the footage every time, in case she checked it. I’ve… I’ve really made a mess of this, haven’t I?”_ _

__Hollow laughter curved at the edge of his words. Something tore within Nick._ _

__“No,” he muttered, turning. “Oh, _Charlie_ -”_ _

__The next thing Nick knew, Charlie had fallen into his arms. He brought them up, and pulled him in closer, as tight as he could without hurting him._ _

__Charlie wasn’t a small person. He was 5′11″, supple and lithe yet strong, dangerous. He was Nightingale, the beloved hero, one of the world’s finest and best. Yet in Nick’s arms, where he curled up further and buried his face in Nick’s chest, making rough, wheezy gasps that weren’t sobs, weren’t crying because he had done so much of it already, he didn’t seem like Nightingale at all. More like the boy Nick had first known. More like the small, wide-eyed sidekick playing pretend._ _

__However long they stayed like that, Nick wasn’t quite sure. He just held onto him, humming softly as he stroked Charlie’s hair, noting the tangles amongst the feathery locks, until Charlie had quieted, and his breathing evened._ _

__“I’m sorry,” Nick murmured, before Charlie even got the chance. “God, Charlie, I’m so sorry for everything I said. I know I hurt you. I shouldn’t have said it, but I did, and I’m so, so sorry.”_ _

__Charlie shook his head. The familiar domino mask was gone, clutched in his hands as he worried at it. “No, it’s - you were right. I should - I need -”_ _

__Nick shushed him, pressing a kiss to the crown of Charlie’s head._ _

__“Even if that’s true,” he said, “I shouldn’t have said it then. I shouldn’t have said it like that.” He sighed and closed his eyes. “Olly told us - Tori, me and Michael, I mean - what he told you. About wanting to be Magpie.”_ _

__He felt Charlie tense in his arms, then uncoil, slowly. “Oh.”_ _

__Nick just nodded, opening his eyes and gazing down at his partner._ _

__“Yeah,” he said. “If it helps, Tori had a good go at him for it. And then she had a go at me for, well… pretty much everything I’ve done this past month.”_ _

__Charlie huffed, but the ghost of a smile was appearing as he looked up at Nick. A shine was back in his eyes._ _

__“It helps a little,” he admitted. Nick smiled back down at him._ _

__A minute passed. Maybe two._ _

__“…you know he’d be okay, right?” Nick asked softly, his smile fading. “Olly, I mean. He’s been on comms since he was ten. Not to mention he’s been kidnapped more times than I can count and survived every time. And there’s all that martial arts stuff he does. If anything, he’s overqualified to become Magpie. And he’s wanted to be a hero forever. Don’t you remember all the drawings he did?”_ _

__“Yeah, but there’s a difference between wanting to be Tractorman with the ability to summon tractors, and being Magpie,” Charlie pointed out. His voice had evened out, though it was mirthless. “Magpies get their wings clipped. If - if he stays Olly, then I know where he is. I don’t - I can’t -”_ _

__Understanding hit Nick as the young man in his arms started to tremble. Out of Charlie's family, there were maybe three people left in the world, only two of whom he actually saw. One of those two he had once lost for nearly two years._ _

__Words caught in his throat as he pulled Charlie back into an embrace. No tears, no crying, no growing damp patch on the front of Nick’s uniform._ _

__“I understand,” Nick said. “But Charlie..”_ _

__Whatever he was going to say - and in truth, he wasn’t quite sure of it himself - was lost as Charlie sat up. He reached out, and cupped Nick’s cheek, running his thumb over it again and again, rhythmically. He was cool to the touch, even as he leaned forward and rested his forehead against Nick’s._ _

__“I need a… a break…” Charlie murmured. “I do. Just - I need to finish this drug trafficking case, and there’s a few more I can close up soon, but after that - I’ll pass what needs to be passed - I just - I just always feel useless when I take time off, you know? Like there’s so much I could be helping with, and I’m just - I’m not.”_ _

__“Hey,” Nick chided, mirroring Charlie, cupping his cheek so that he couldn’t look away. “Listen to me. Time for yourself is not wasted time. Every other hero has taken breaks, you muppet. If you want, you could use that time to train Olly. Make sure you feel like he’s ready for Pianet. It's still a break - you won’t be out in the field - but maybe it would help with the ennui?”_ _

__A grin, bright as oxeye daisies, then laughter - proper, lively laughter. “Ennui,” Charlie repeated. “Don’t think I’ve ever heard you say that before.”_ _

__“Oi -” Nick pulled away, huffing, a teasing retort poised at the edge of his tongue until Charlie kissed him._ _

__Not a huge kiss. A small, summer-shy kiss, fluttery and light. Just enough to be a reassurance, even as they pulled apart._ _

__“...I really am sorry,” Nick murmured. “For everything I said. For not coming soon enough.”_ _

__“That’s alright,” Charlie replied. His free hand found Nick’s, and he held it. “I forgive you.”_ _

__That time, Nick kissed him, just for a little longer than before. As he pulled away again, he noticed the barest hint of light streaking across Charlie’s face. He stood, pulling Charlie to his feet, and turned out to look from the rooftop._ _

__Night was fading. Dawn was greeting Pianet, a warm blanket wrapped around the city’s shoulders. A flower-yellow sun and silk-blue colour poking through an indigo-dark sky._ _

__“Hey.” Nick nudged Charlie’s shoulder with his own. “Do you want to see the sunrise from up high before we go back to Tori? I know you birds prefer the shadows, but you’re not owls. Only two of you are even corvids. You should see daylight sometimes.”_ _

__Charlie snorted, pushing him back. “Nightingales sing at night, you idiot. ‘Night’ is literally part of their names.”_ _

__“They don’t _fly_ at night,” Nick corrected. “Oh, and Charlie?”_ _

__“Yeah?”_ _

__“I love you.”_ _

__A stunned look passed over Charlie’s face, before he laughed, stepped closer to Nick and closed the gap between them, placing his arms around Nick’s shoulders._ _

__“God. Only you could be this cheesy,” he teased, pressing another kiss to Nick’s cheek..“I love you too. C’mon, let’s go watch that sunrise before Tori comes over here herself.” He squeezed Nick, just a small, quick hug. “Promise me you won’t let me fall?”_ _

__In his arms, Charlie felt solid. Warm. Felt alive. A smile settled as Nick caught the beating of his heart, steadfast, gentle._ _

__“Don’t worry,” he promised, as he pushed off the ground, started to soar up, up towards the sky, Charlie’s head resting against his chest. “I won’t let you fall.”_ _

**Author's Note:**

> YES that ending is incredibly sappy and no I will NOT apologise for it. Also some trivia because I did too much research for this fic!! 'Pianet' is an old name for a magpie, and Nick's city - Belenusby - is a combination of 'Belenus', who was a Celtic sun god, and 'by', which is generic English suffix that means settlement.
> 
> I hope you've enjoyed this fic! If you have any questions, liked the fic, have feedback or noticed any mistakes, post in the comments below, or at my tumblr [here](http://princedrewwrites.tumblr.com) . I'm on there pretty often now. Or, if you just liked the fic and don't want to say anything, just leave a kudos. There's no pressure either way.


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